Not All Studies Are Equal

Take a few minutes to look at this article linked above written by Dr. Gregor. It shows how studies can be extremely misleading, especially when biases, special interests and money are involved. Gregor explains how the meat and highly-processed food industries can conduct studies to create results that are counterintuitive and deceitful.

I’ve heard the excuse from somebody to keep believing that a diet rich with animal foods is healthy because all studies conducted have some bias or agenda behind them, making all studies equally equally true. While everybody has a bias one way or another, some biases talk more than others.

Would you really trust a study about a product that was done by that specific product owner? I wouldn’t. The interests behind such a study overpower the science the the legitimacy of the study. It is easier to trust a study’s results if the researcher is not affiliated or tied with the product being tested in any way. As you can see in the article linked above evidence suggesting anything is healthy–even Twinkies– can be created.

Although it would be easiest to believe all science that comes our way regarding nutrition and health, we do not have that luxury. When we get information from our sources, it is necessary to analyze the information and question if it actually make sense. For example: does it make sense that eating a Twinkies once a day can be good for heart health? No. Even if you have very little information and knowledge about nutrition, I hope you are able to recognize Twinkies are a junk food and therefore will never ever be good for heart health or any health for that matter. I understand many people find it comforting to buy into these studies because the results reinforce our addictive behavior towards food. We don’t want to be told that something we enjoy causes heart disease, cancer and diabetes. We would rather believe that eating Twinkies in “moderation” (aka once a day) is beneficial.

Just because you believe in science doesn’t mean that you need to believe all studies out there. Not all studies are created equal.